Finding my First Cache | Geocaching Photo Diary

A few days ago, I blogged all about my new hobby, Geocaching (find out what it's all about here). As a quick recap or for those of you that didn't see my recent post, geocaching is a outdoor activity that is a cross between treasure hunting and orienteering. Containers, known as caches, are hidden all over the World by people in this almost underground hobby. They even have a name for people who don't know about the geocaching world, they call them 'muggles' and as a Harry Potter fan, I thought this was awesome! There might even be a geocache or five in your hometown just waiting for you to discover. That's what I set out to do today (and yesterday, but I couldn't find it! haha), look for a geocache in my town. I wanted to show you all the geocache I found, along with some pretty things I saw on my walk. I hope you all enjoy it! 

The view above is of the moors over my town and Darwen Tower, which is also known as the Jubilee Tower. It was built to commemorate Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee. It's been on the hills overlooking my town since 1898! You can see for miles and miles from the top, but it's a tiring trek to get up there. I haven't been for over 10 years now. The next couple of photographs will be showing the geocache that I found, but I can't show you where it was because that's spoiling the game for any local geocachers that might stumble upon my post! :)

Caches can come in all shapes and sizes. This one was listed as an extra small cache, which can be anything from film canisters to pill boxes. Today's find was in a small black official geocaching container with one of those slide on and off lids. Inside each cache, there will either be a log book or if the cache is tiny, a piece of paper. This is for finders to record their names and the date they found it. It would be so cool to go back to a cache you've hidden and see how many people have signed your log book/sheet. My handwriting was so messy because I had to lean the paper against my leg to sign it. It was really nice of the geocache creator to leave a little pencil inside, too. This isn't always the case so geocachers should always make sure they have a pen with them. 

One of the many fun things about this hobby is that geocachers will often leave little trinkets and such inside the caches they find, sometimes for nothing in return and other times to swap for another trinket already in the box. The geocaching app told me that this would be an extra small cache so I brought with me this mini shell and a tiny wooden skull bead to leave behind. The shell was the only thing that would fit. It would be great to go back one day to see if the shell is still there! As you can see, the local spiders have also found this geocache and laid their eggs inside! There was also an Earwig guarding the cache, which my mum wasn't very happy about! haha 

Of course, I had to play Pokemon Go on my travels today, although I only found Pokemon that I'd already caught! I took so many more photographs but I didn't want this post to be more pic heavy than it already is. I had a really fun time searching for this geocaching, although it does drain me, plus the heat today really didn't help. I can't wait to continue with my new found hobby and find some more geocaches. I can tick 'start geocaching' off my summer wishlist now too. 

Thankyou for reading! 

 ♥

Have you ever been geocaching or even heard of it before? 

 Enjoyed this photo diary post, check out some of my others: 

| Sunny Sunday in the Garden |  An Afternoon in the Woods | 

 

 

All About Geocaching

Hey everyone! I hope you all had a lovely today. I went on a walk this morning, took photographs of the local wildlife and caught five pokemon, including an Eevee. Yay! I also saw a massive heron, which was awesome! I spent the rest of the day relaxing in the garden, complaining about the heat :) it was a brilliant day but so hot! Me and hot weather do not go well together. Today's post is going to be all about a new hobby I'm joining in with called Geocaching. I've been wanting to do it now for ages, and so I put it on my summer wishlist and I'm determined to go and find some caches, as a way to get me and about more (along with Pokemon Go). I hope you enjoy reading! 

 What is Geocaching?

I thought I'd tell you all about what geocaching is, because it's one of those hobbies that not many people know about until they meet someone who does it. I first learnt about geocaching on tumblr and I thought it was such an awesome hobby! Geocaching is basically like a cross between orienteering and treasure hunting! All over the World, containers, known as 'caches' to people who enjoy the hobby, are hidden and it's your job to find them using a GPS device. I've wanted to jump on the geocaching bandwagon for years but I've never gotten around to buying a GPS reader/receiver. I studied an animal science subject at university and we were taught how to use one of these readers and well, I was rubbish at it! I thought I'd never be able to geocache and it was pushed to back of my mind. Recently though, me and some of my friends from high school had a little reunion night out and one of my friends excitedly showed us all this new hobby he'd used his phone for. Turns out, it was geocaching! Why I never put two and two together and searched for an app, I don't know! I know that phones have GPS but it just never clicked, silly me! So now, I have finally downloaded the app and can start geocaching. 

How do you find 'caches'?

As I am crap at using GPS readers, I can only tell you how to use the app!  Your geocaching app will show you all of the caches hidden in the surrounding areas of your current location, which are displayed as green circles. Some of these caches can only be viewed by paying members, but there's lots of caches that are available for everyone to find. You can see the name of the road on which the cache is located on your app, then all you have to do is travel to that location and as you walk around, it will tell you how close you are to the cache. It's awesome! The app will also tell you the difficulty of the terrain surrounding the cache and how challenging it will be to find. Additionally, it will include a description from the person who hid the box as well as the size of cache you should be looking for.

What should you expect to find inside a cache? 

Caches can come in all shapes and sizes, some are mini containers and others are big metal boxes. Inside each geocache, there will a log book, or in the mini boxes, a tiny piece of rolled up paper. You need to sign this once you've found the cache. The bigger caches often have 'trinkets' inside which people swap for something of their own. It's nice to have a little keepsake that reminds you of the caches you've found. The kinds of trinkets that you could find inside a cache are keyrings and charms, toys, figures, mini compasses, all sorts really. Some caches contain what is known as a 'travel bug' in the form of a metal dog tag chain. These are special tags that should only be taken from the cache to be moved to another, as the purpose of these is to travel. Some travel bugs have been moved from cache to cache all over the World. I think that's really fascinating! 

What do you need to start geocaching?

Firstly, you will need to download the geocaching app onto your phone and make an account, or if you would prefer to do it the old school way, get yourself a GPS reader. I think you can get a decent one for around £40-£50. Once you are all set up technology-wise, you will need to find some trinkets ready to swap for anything you want to take out of a cache you find. The rule of geocaching is that you must always put something back in the cache if you take something out. For my first cache hunts, I'm going to be taking these two little charms and wrapping them in a little bit of plastic so they don't get ruined if the cache should ever get damaged. An important tip to remember is to always bring a pen to sign the log book. Some of the bigger caches will have pens kindly put inside but most of the time you'll need to make sure you have a pen. 

Some other things that I think are important to carry along with you include, a portable charger as you could be walking in remote areas so you need to stay safe and make sure you can always charge your phone should it run out of battery. I suggest taking water or juice with you as you're going to be walking around and it's important to stay hydrated. Comfortable walking shoes are also great. Take any essentials you may need like medication; I even took some plasters in case my shoes started to rub my feet and some tissues. Pack anything you would usually take on a walk with you. 

Let's go geocaching!

I'm going to do a post all about my first geocache when I find it. I'm interested to see what it will be like. I know that there's one locally and the app tells me it's an extra small cache so I might be searching for ages. I think it's handy that you can view the comments of other people who have found or not found the cache, so you know it's missing or hard to find, etc. Another awesome thing is that geocaching will get me out of the house and exploring in natural surroundings, which always make me feel good especially when it's a nice day and I can take my camera along with me. I'm also looking forward to catching Pokemon along the way! If you'd like to read more about geocaching, take a look on the Geocaching Association of Great Britain's website. 

Thankyou for reading!

♥

Have you ever been geocaching? If not, has my post made you curious to try it out for yourselves? 

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